Street Magic

High Hopes, allow me to introduce you to Crushing Disappointment.

I really wanted to like this book. Scratch that. I wanted to love it. I've been absolutely starved for another Urban Fantasy series that I could get obsessively attached to. Thus, when I heard that two of my favorite bloggers were recommending the Black London series by Caitlin Kittredge, I googled the books faster then I've ever googled anything before (well except maybe for semi-naked pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal). Anyways, being the discerning reader & consumer that I am, I of course decided to check out some more reviews prior to scrambling for my wallet. And as it turned out, some reviews were pretty bad. But despite having to tell my borderline manic excitement to show more slow its roll, I was still hopeful and determined to give Street Magic a try. So, I bum rushed the double doors of my local library and borrowed a copy STAT.

My venture into Black London started off fairly well. I immediately liked the writing style, namely the rich descriptions and gritty edginess of the environments & characterizations. And I appreciated the fast pace and action...at least at first because as the story progressed the action became rather repetitive & redundant. Sadly, as I flipped the pages, I felt a hollow sensation creeping up inside me and quickly realized that I was not becoming emotionally engaged in the story. Quite the contrary, I felt utterly detached and couldn't bring myself to care for either one of the two protagonists.

I like my characters flawed. I like them to be rough around the edges with a bit of attitude & a smidgen of broodiness. And I like to see them voyage through the murky gray area in between right and wrong. Therefore, I initially welcomed Pete and Jack with wide open arms. Unfortunately, like with most blind dates, the reasonably good first impression turned sour rather fast.

Pete had potential to be likable. She was loyal, compassionate, and brave. However, she was also a card-carrying member of the TSTL club. This was made worse by the fact that Pete was supposed to be a superstar London detective. Yeah, I've seen mall cops act more professional than the nonsense Pete tried to pass off as police work. She did nothing by the book. Hell, she chucked the book out the window of her mini cooper, drove over it, and then backed up to drive over it again for good measure. She ran blindly head first into every situation without anything close to resembling a plan. She never told anyone where she was going or what she was doing. She ran her mouth off and physically assaulted people left & right without much rhyme or reason. It was just one stupid decision after another. On top of that, she had an extremely unhealthy infatuation with Jack, who did absolutely nothing to deserve her affection & devotion.

Jack, bluntly put, was a jerk. I found nothing likable about him and he never managed to redeem himself in my eyes. He was self-absorbed, arrogant, apathetic, and immature. And no, this wasn't due to a 12-year heroin addiction. I wish it was. No, Jack by nature was a selfish, cocky bastard. Sure, he had a tough childhood and a rather unpleasant ability of seeing/hearing the dead, but I couldn't find anything positive enough about him to accept this as a legitimate excuse for his jerkish personality & behavior. Perhaps in the proceeding books he manages to grow as a person and earn some respect, but in Street Magic he pretty much sucked.

Finally, another thing that totally turned me off was the foul-mouthedness that ran rampant in this book like an ADHD kid on a sugar high. Listen, I'm not prudish. I don't mind a bit of cussing. I cuss too...in 3 languages (3.5 if you count what I picked up from Battlestar Galactica). Admittedly, I cuss more in my head then out loud, but that's besides the point. The thing is, the profanity in this book was way over-the-top and mixed in with British slang that felt really contrived. The "C" word was used so much that if I had decided to make a drinking game out of it, I would have had alcohol poisoning before the end of the book. It made me very uncomfortable, and that's saying something because the last time cussing made me uncomfortable was when I babysat the Spawn of Satan back in high school (how a 5-year-old little boy learned to cuss like a drunken sailor with anger-management issues, I do not know, but his parents definitely didn't pay me nearly enough for all the times I had to foil his plans of setting things on fire and poking animals with pointy sticks...*shutter*). show less

Combine the mannerisms of John Constantine from Hellblazer, the looks of Spike from Buffy, and complete incompetence, and what do you get? Jack Winter, the most disappointing street mage I've read yet. Supposedly this is set in England: the only way I can tell is that Jack says "bloody hell" every page, calls women "luv," and smokes Parliaments. Otherwise, nothing really marks this as London; it could have been set in any modern city and been the exact same story.

The uninspired, generic feel of the story could still have been saved by a good plot, solid police work, or a consistent magic system. Alas, we are let down there as well. The plot stalls for long periods, during which Pete and Jack banter and say "bloody hell" as often as show more possible, and then every few chapters Kittredge seems to remember that stuff has to happen for this to count as a novel. Random magic users attack, mock Jack for being over the hill, threaten Pete with rape, and then get killed or stunned. (I literally lost count of how many times sorcerers try to assault Pete, including interrupting their own climactic magical ritual in order to try to rape her at knife point. So tedious and nonsensical.) Pete has supposedly been a cop for years, but she never does any police work or uses any associated skills or connections. And the magic doesn't follow any sort of system at all, not even the dreamy fairy-tale logic of McKillip or Gaiman--it just works (or doesn't work) in whatever way the plot requires it to do at that moment.

Every single character is incompetent, the plot meanders, and the two main characters are annoying. They repeatedly risk their lives (even stab themselves in the stomach!) to save each other, all based on three days and less than three months' acquaintance twelve years ago. They never manage to make incredibly obvious logical connections, or follow up on leads, being too busy yelling at each other about how important they are to each other.

Overall, mediocre, stupid, and forgettable. show less

I should have been looking for a Comfort Read for Christmas. But this Christmas bore no resemblance whatsoever to any other Christmas in living memory (in a word, it sucked), so I drifted with my whim and landed almost randomly on this book on the Kindle. I figured I'd start it and see how it went.

How it went was almost in one sitting. I was hooked quickly and dragged along for the ride. And it was quite a ride.

Taken separately, the component parts of this book aren't promising. The main characters are a tough-as-nails-here-I'll-prove-it 28-year-old female London copper, Pete Connelly (if I told you what Pete is short for she'd kill me) and Jack Winter, former punk rock singer, current junkie, and all-around (*pause to review show more possible epithets for one clean enough for a review*) Grade-A jerk. The story is different from other urban fantasies I've read, though there are elements that ring all kinds of Dresden-esque and Peter-Grant-esque bells (like the ability of the heroes to withstand a horrific amount of physical pan and abuse and come out of it making smart-ass remarks). One thing this book (this series, I'm finding) has that the others don't is language. By which I do not mean skilful use of adjective or metaphor or turn of phrase; all three series do have that to one degree or another. No, what Street Magic has that the others don't, quite, is sheer unadulterated potty mouth. I'm not unduly sensitive to filthy language – heaven knows my mouth in these past few months especially, as the universe has consistently showed me its heel, has been worthy of an Orbit gum commercial. But even at my worst I don't think I've used the f-bomb quite as often and as creatively as it is used by the characters here. And I definitely haven't used the (not to be coy, but I don't choose to ever use the word) "c-word" … and if I did it wouldn't be in every other sentence, and probably not referring to male characters…. I still find that odd. And there's plenty more besides … It's a little like sandpaper on the eyeballs.

Still. Despite all of this, I found myself completely involved. I like Pete. I even like Jack – and I feel for him, and want him to be ok. More, I want to know how it is that he reappears in Pete's life after twelve years. I wanted to know how it was going to come back to, literally, haunt her.

It all begins with a missing child. Kidnapped children are rarely going to return home the same as they used to be, but this situation is something else again. Much as Pete wants to deny it, there is more than just a human psycho involved in this – there's a supernatural agency at work, and that is going to take even more explaining away than her confidential informant is.

And that there is one of the problems with the book. When the sh – er, when everything hits the fan, it demands Pete's time, at the expense of her official duties. Her partner has to do some heavy-duty covering up for her, and for the most part without knowing what he's covering up, and it's all handled a bit more casually than it ought to be – by Pete, by her partner, and by her superiors. Or maybe not, considering the second book.

Still, the setting was great; the Big Bad is both very big and very bad, with a few elements that were thoroughly chilling. And while I admit I have a soft spot for the classic Knight in Shining Armor hero, reading about protagonists as thoroughly messed up as these two are is a gritty dose of realism, and – since I can close the book and not worry about the pain or odors et cetera – a strangely refreshing change of pace. Not for everyday, this – more like the grungy, tattered outfit you dig out of your closet when you're headed to a punk rock concert.

Not that I've ever been to a punk rock concert.

Or ever will.

But now I know what one is like. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

STREET MAGIC is one of the best series launches I’ve read in a long time. It really just scrapes the surface of this world and these characters, and yet Wow does it pack a punch. The writing is tight and specific. We don’t ever get bogged down with physical descriptions of people and places, but I still know exactly what everyone looks like and I felt very much like I’d visited all the London locations in STREET MAGIC. The plot is suitably sinister with a supernatural evil that every fiber of your being will long to destroy, but it’s the relationship between Pete and Jack that really sets this book apart.

Jack Winter is a new favorite character for me, and I say character rather than show more romantic lead because there is very little romantic about him. He’s a complete train wreck of a person. The first time Pete sees him after a dozen years, he’s an emaciated heroin junkie who lets fly a string of hyper crude profanity the moment he sees her. It’s not exactly a meet-cute. With a handful of vitally important exceptions, Jack stays pretty much at that level of hostile wretchedness throughout the book. What does change is how we as readers perceive him as we learn more about him. No matter how many times he falls, Pete refuses to give up on him. She sees something worth saving and so do I.

And I can’t forget Pete. She’s an amazingly tenacious woman. The realities she has to come face to face with in STREET MAGIC would have destroyed a weaker person, but she keeps getting back up, keeps fighting. She’s not some Amazon warrior chick either. She works with her strengths and is aware of her weaknesses, but isn’t afraid to get hurt.

If the debut is any indication, the Black London series is a must read. A dark and twisted urban fantasy set in a London filled with truly evil demons, fae and malevolent magic users. The characters are broken in every possible way and yet they completely resonated with me. I’m thoroughly invested in them so that it’s not a question of if I’ll be reading the rest of the series, it’s a question of how soon can I get caught up. The 4th installment, DEVIL’S BUSINESS, will be published on August 30, 2011.

Sexual Content:
Kissing. Pervasive crude sexual dialogue. show less

This is a short book (335 pp) which I picked up for free at the Connotations Book Mooch in Oct. It says something that I started reading it that weekend and only finished it a week or so ago.

I was drawn to the Black London setting (a London where magic takes place both in and out of a sort of parallel-ish dimension) rather than the actual premise (Teen heroine, Pete, meets older bad boy mage, Jack, who is seemingly killed in front of her. Pete grows up to be a policewoman and is investigating the case of a missing girl when she comes face to face with Jack, who is most definitely not dead.)

Alas I should've spent more time reading the inside notes because the book is written by an American chick living in Seattle who has based her novel show more in London and her hero is a bad boy from Manchester.

Though there is a relatively decent plot buried somewhere in the book it's overshadowed by (a) two protagonists who seem to spend all their time shouting and snarking at each other as if they were still teens (b) stupid, stupid mistakes on the Britpicking front (c) cringe inducing dialogue.

Examples of the Britpicking which set my teeth on edge? Having the anti-hero go ito a pub and ask for "a pint of bitters" because seriously, if the bar staff are having an off day you will NOT get a pint of ale but something far less palatable. After Jack shoves through the gate onto the Tube Pete "swipes her Oyster card twice". Yeah right - that'll work. And making Pete's address: 221 Croydon Place, #32, London - this is not how our addresses work!

The dialogue reads like badly written fanfic.

One of the reviewers on Amazon had this to say about it: "the general effect is of something translated from another tongue by someone to whom UK English is a second language - grammatically accurate but the vocabulary use is just a bit off."

Here's a hint - there's a style to cursing in the UK and that doesn't mean you scatter "bloody's", "bugger's" and a number of "sod's" and "git's" every few words, cross your fingers and hope for the best. If the bad boy mage is a bit of a lad from Manchester then he'll be dropping the f-bomb all over the place not sounding like a weird 50s fop or some pre-teen who hasn't yet learned how to cuss properly. Also adding "all" to "bugger" does not emphasise, but rather completely changes, the meaning.

I also think she must have had a product placement deal with whatever company makes Parliament cigarettes. We're introduced to Jack and told he smokes Parliaments (not a brand I would associate with a UK smoker) and then every time it's all "Pete takes Jack's Parliament", "Jack cups his hand and lights a Parliament" until it becomes teeth grindingly intrusive.

To any Brit reader, or American who has spent time in the UK, the dialogue is just going to sound wrong. The colloquialisms are off, there's precious little difference in style between Jack and Pete's speech patterns and Jack particularly, ends up sounding like a cross between Spike and Sid Vicious with the cod Britpseak.

As a plot point too - Pete is supposed to be a detective yet spends the entire novel bunking off work running rounds London with a junkie ex-mage barely ever calling in. I doubt if the Met bosses give their staff quite as much freedom as Pete seems to have.

Also if you want me to invest in Pete as a serious female heroine it would help if on meeting wasted junkie Jack that she didn't revert to talking and acting like a starry eyed teen experiencing her first crush.

So um...that'd be a Thumbs Down for Kittredge and Street Magic (which was the first in the Black London series). I won't be reading the rest. show less

Twelve years back Pete Caldecott stood in a circle and let Jack Winter shed her blood to wake a spirit. It killed him.

Except he's not dead, he's the informant that just let her know where she'll find a kidnapped girl...WTF?

And they're off and running. Pete's now an inspector with Scotland Yard. Jack's now a heroin addict (it's the only thing that keeps the voices away). But Pete's determined that she's going to find whatever is responsible for taking the missing children whatever the collateral damage.

Given that Jack's on smack and Pete has very few issues with getting her answers by any means necessary, it should come as no surprise that Black London is a good deal rawer and grittier than Nocturne City. Pete's really likable, and show more when he's not whinging, so's Jack. Looking forward to reading more of their adventures. show less

I really wanted to like this book. I keep hoping for a paranormal detective series that will grab me like the early Anita Blake books did and this definitely sounded promising - the fae, different kinds of magic, missing children, London setting - how could it miss?

Well, it misses in various ways - dreadfully written Britishized dialogue with slang obviously written by an American, shallow to non-existent characterizations, plot holes large enough to drive several semi's through - the list goes on and on. I did finish this, but that's because I was on an airplane and my other books were packed in the bag I checked in. I did stop reading this and read all of the airline-provided reading material in the little seat pocket in front of me - show more the in-flight magazine, the catalog of stuff no one ever buys, and the seat card with safety instructions. Sadly, those materials didn't take up all of the time and I was forced to go back to this book and finish it. I will never ever travel without at least two books in my carry-on bag again.

Dreadful. show less